Engaging structure for a drawer track

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses an engaging structure for a drawer track in which a ball seat adapted between a movable track and an intermediate track to render the movable track moving smoothly in the fixed track, wherein an appropriate position on the inner wall of the movable track is pivoted with a swinging piece whose two sides extends to form a retaining piece and a guide tenon, respectively; the side edges of the protruding portion on the front top end of the intermediate track extends to form a pair of front and rear stop pieces with slant faces, which are longitudinally resilient; a coupled structure includes a coupled piece slidably mounted on the front end to middle section of the bottom of the movable track and the coupled piece is fabricated to form a slant guide on its rear end to be adapted onto the guide tenon; such that when the movable track is being pulled from or being pushed into the intermediate track, the retaining piece will touch the slant face of one of the stop pieces, which is in turn being pressed downward to further push the swinging piece into the engaging space between the two stop pieces; alternatively, when an external force is pulling the coupled piece to drive the guide tenon to move the along slant guide and to render the retaining piece on the other end swinging so as to disengage from the engaged state.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an engaging structure for a drawer track and, in particular, to an engaging structure mounted between two tracks, a movable track and an intermediate track for example, such that the movable track may first be engaged with the engaging structure when the movable track being pulled from or pushed into the intermediate track.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Sliding track is a familiar object in daily life. Drawer, for example, may be pulled to extend its length and pushed to return to its original length. Consequently, drawer has been widely seen in daily life.

A typical conventional track device for a drawer includes a ball seat disposed between a movable track and a fixed track, wherein the movable track moves smoothly in the fixed track through the plurality of steel balls in the ball seat. Since the track device for a drawer has been widely applied with many applications. A stop piece, for example, is securely mounted in the opening of the fixed track, such that when the movable track is being pulled outward, the lock piece inside the movable track prevents the stop piece from being pulled further. Furthermore, to meet specific demands, the movable track is required to be pulled out of or pushed into the fixed track and thus there is no stop piece or lock piece between the two tracks. Nevertheless, it sometimes causes the objects, industrial Personal Computer (IPC) for example, stored in the drawer to drop accidentally.

ROC Patent No. 564,721 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,851,773), for example, discloses a track device including a first track, a second track slidably received in the first track, and a sliding-aiding member mounted between the first track and the second track. A retaining member is securely mounted on the front end of the first track and includes a resilient hook rod. When the second track is removed from the first track, the resilient hook rod of the retaining member is engaged with an engaging notch in a front end of the slide-aiding member and the first track, an unlatching member on the second track urges the resilient hook rod of the retaining member to disengage from the engaging notch of the slide-aiding member, allowing further inward sliding movement of the second track into the first track.

In the aforementioned patent, the slide-aiding member is the ball seat defined in the present invention. The object of the aforementioned invention is to provide a retaining structure for the ball seat. Since there is no engaging structure mounted between the first track and the second track, when the two tracks are jerked to close or open, they may be accelerated, which will be aggravated by the inertia of the load they carry, leading to impact, creak, or even damage the drawer. Consequently, it is necessary to dispose an engaging structure between the tracks, and thus the engaging structure may ensure the safety of the load through engaging and disengaging of the engaging structure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To meet such a demand, the applicant having a long time experience in designing, production, and marketing of tracks proposes the present invention, an engaging structure for a drawer track, as a result of numerous trials and experiments.

An object of the present invention is to provide an engaging structure for a drawer track in which a ball seat adapted between a movable track and an intermediate track to render the movable track moving smoothly in the fixed track, wherein an appropriate position on the inner wall of the movable track is pivoted with a swinging piece whose two sides extends to form a retaining piece and a guide tenon, respectively; the side edges of the protruding portion on the front top end of the intermediate track extends to form a pair of front and rear stop pieces with slant faces, which are longitudinally resilient; a coupled structure includes a coupled piece slidably mounted on the front end to middle section of the bottom of the movable track and the coupled piece is fabricated to form a slant guide on its rear end to be adapted onto the guide tenon; such that when the movable track is being pulled from or being pushed into the intermediate track, the retaining piece will touch the slant face of one of the stop pieces, which is in turn being pressed downward to further push the swinging piece into the engaging space between the two stop pieces; alternatively, when an external force is pulling the coupled piece to drive the guide tenon to move the along slant guide and to render the retaining piece on the other end swinging so as to disengage from the engaged state.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an engaging structure for a drawer track, further comprising a retaining structure for the ball seat which comprises an intermediate track disposed with a protruding portion whose one side edge extends to form a pair of adjacent front stop and seat stop piece which have a slant face and which are longitudinally resilient; a ball seat whose front edge corresponding to the seat stop piece is fabricated to form a retaining slot; a movable track, which is disposed with a clasping piece at the appropriate position on its inner front end corresponding to the seat stop piece; such that when the ball seat moves to the opening of the front end of the intermediate track, the retaining slot is engaged with the seat stop piece to retain the ball seat; also, when the clasping piece of the movable track moves to press the front stop and causes the seat stop piece to sink simultaneously, the retaining slot is disengaged from the engagement with the retaining tenon and is released from the engagement.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an engaging structure for a drawer track, wherein the rear bottom of the protruding portion of the intermediate track is axially mounted with an retaining swing piece which extends to form a connecting tenon from the front and to form a forked connection notch from the rear; and the intermediate track is fabricated to form a corresponding tenon hole and retaining slot for the protrusion of the connecting tenon and accommodation of the forked connection notch; the top of the fixed track corresponding to the retaining slot is disposed with a protruding block at an appropriate position; the intermediate track is being pushed inward and as it is moved to the position of the protruding block, its forked connection notch is engaged with the protruding block and the intermediate track cannot be moved further. When the intermediate track is being pushed inward to move to the protruding block, the forked connection notch is engaged with the protruding block and the intermediate track cannot be moved further. When the slant slot of the clasping piece touches the connecting tenon which is then guided into track, the forked connection notch of the retaining swing piece swings to disengage from the engagement of the protruding block, and then both the movable track and the intermediate track move to the rear of the fixed track.

Still yet object of the present invention is to provide an engaging structure for a drawer track, wherein the slant edges of the protruding portion are fabricated to form a front and rear stop pieces, respectively, and an retaining piece is connected onto the front end opening of the intermediate track and which extend their respective stop slots, which are resilient longitudinally, and between which is disposed with at least a groove as their separation

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention can be more fully understood by reference to the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an exploded perspective view of a drawer tack according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a perspective view of the intermediate track engaged with the movable track according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a local enlarged top view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a perspective view of the intermediate track disengaged with the movable track according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a local enlarged top view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a perspective view of the clasping piece of the movable track disengaged with the ball seat according to the present invention; and

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a perspective view of the clasping piece and the retaining swing piece disengaged with the fixed track according to the present invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to FIG. 1, the engaging structure for a drawer slide comprises a movable track 1, an intermediate track 2, a ball seat 3, and a coupled structure 4, wherein the ball seat 3 inserted with steel balls 31 on its two sides is adapted between the movable track 1 and the intermediate track 2, such that the movable track 1 may move smoothly in the intermediate track 3. However, if the present invention is being applied in three-track drawer, the intermediate track 2 will be adapted to another fixed track 5 with a ball seat (not shown due to the angle of projection) between them, such that the intermediate track 2 is in a slidable condition relative to the fixed track 5, which is a conventional art and will not be discussed here furthermore.

The present invention is characterized by that the movable track 1 is pivotally connected at its middle section, rivetedly connected with a swinging piece 11 for example, whose rear end extends to form a retaining piece 111 provided with a slant face 112 with a movable end and whose front end extends to form of a guide piece 113 provided with a vertical guide tenon 114 with a movable end.

The coupled structure 4 includes a coupled piece 41 slidably mounted between the front end and middle section of the movable track 1. The coupled piece 41, for example, is fabricated to form a slide guide 411 on its front and rear sections, respectively, and is rivetedly connected onto the movable track 1. The coupled piece 41 is also fabricated to form a slant guide 412 to be adapted onto the guide tenon 114, such that when the coupled structure 41 moves laterally, the guide tenon 114 is driven to move along the slant guide 412 and then drives the retaining piece 111 on the other end to swing ups and downs in a shape of a fan.

Further, to render the coupled structure with a resilience of expanding and contracting, a protection cover 42 is riveted onto the inner face of the movable track 1 and a compression-extension spring 43 is adapted onto the spring tenon 421 of the protection cover 42 through its one end and is adapted onto the spring retainer 413 of the coupled structure 41 through the other end. To conveniently control the compression and automatic extension of the coupled piece 41, the bottom of the coupled piece 41 is at least disposed with a retaining button 44, as shown in FIG. 1; the coupled structure 41 protrudes to form a retaining buttons 44 on its front and rear section, respectively, such that when the engagement occurs in the front, the compression-extension spring 43 will be compressed to drive the coupled piece 41 to move forward; alternatively, when the engaging button 44 is released, the compression-extension spring 43 will extend to automatically drive the coupled piece 41 to move backward.

To provide the engagement for the tracks, the top and bottom edges of the protruding portion 21 on the front end opening of the intermediate track 2 is fabricated to form front a stop slot 211, a rear stop slot 212, and a seat stop slot 213 adjacent to the front stop slot 211. An retaining piece 22 is riveted onto the front end bottom of the intermediate track 2, and at the positions corresponding to the stop slots, extends to form a front stop piece 221 and a rear stop piece 222 with slant faces, and a seat stop piece 223 adjacent to the front stop piece 221, which further protrude over their corresponding stop pieces. To render the stop pieces with the resilience of extension and compression longitudinally, the surfaces of the stop pieces are fabricated to form at least a slot 224, respectively, to separate the stop pieces.

Further, to achieve the retaining when the ball seat 3 together with the movable track 1 move to the front end opening of the intermediate track 2, the front edge of the beat seat 3, corresponding to the seat stop piece 233, is fabricated to form a retaining slot 32, such that when the ball seat 3 driven by the movable track 1 moves to the front end opening of the intermediate track 2, the retaining slot 32 will follow and press the slant face of the seat stop piece 223 to move until the seat stop piece 223 is engaged onto the retaining slot 32 and thus the ball seat 3 is retained. To release the engagement of the ball seat 3, when the movable track 1 is inserted into the intermediate track 2, the clasping piece 12 on the front section of the movable track 1 follows and also presses the slant face of the front stop piece 221 to move and drive the seat stop piece 223 to sink simultaneously. Consequently, the retaining slot 32 is disengaged from the engagement of the seat stop piece 223 and thus the ball seat 3 is re-adapted onto the movable track 1 to form a coupled connection.

Further, the rear bottom of the protruding portion 21 of the intermediate track 2 is disposed with an retaining swing piece 23 which extends to form a connecting tenon 231 from the front and to form a forked connection notch 232 from the rear; and the intermediate track 2 is fabricated to form a corresponding tenon hole 214 and retaining slot 215 for the protrusion of the connecting tenon 231 and accommodation of the forked connection notch 232; the top of the fixed track 5 corresponding to the retaining slot 215 is disposed with a protruding block 51 at an appropriate position; when the intermediate track 2 is being pushed inward to move to the protruding block 51, the forked connection notch 232 is engaged with the protruding block 51 and thus the intermediate track 2 cannot be moved further. When the slant slot 121 of the clasping piece 12 touches the connecting tenon 231 which is then guided into the intermediate track 2, the forked connection notch 232 of the retaining swing piece 23 swings to disengage from the engagement of the protruding block 51, and then both the movable track 1 and the intermediate track 2 move to the rear of the fixed track 5.

Consequently, when the retaining button 44 is retained and pushed outward by a finger, the coupled piece 41 will be linked up to move forward, and in turn compress the compression-extension spring 43. Then the guide tenon 114 of the swinging piece 11 will follow the slant guide 412 to move and drive the retaining piece 111 to rotate and swing, such that the retaining piece 111 is disengaged from the engagement of the two stop pieces 221 and 222 (as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5). At this moment, the movable track 1 may be pulled out or inserted in. When the retaining button 44 is being released, the compression-extension spring 43 contracts immediately to drive the coupled piece 41 to return to its original position.

With reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, when the movable track 1 is required to be disengaged from the intermediate track 2 and the movable track 1 is being pulled outward to the front and rear stop pieces 221 and 222, the retaining piece 111 will be engaged in the engaging space between the two stop pieces and thus the movable track 1 cannot be pulled further. At this time, by following the operation of the coupled structure 4 described above, the movable track 1 may be pulled out from the front opening of the intermediate track 2 and the ball seat 3 is engaged and thus retained at the seat stop piece 223.

With reference to FIG. 6, when the movable track 1 is required to be pushed into the intermediate track 2 and the clasping piece 12 of the movable track 1 is being inserted into the front stop piece 221, the front stop piece 221 is pressed downward and in turn the seat stop piece 223 at the same side will sink as well, such that the ball seat 3 will be disengaged the engagement of the seat stop piece 223. Then, the movable track 1 will be adapted onto the ball seat 3 during the inserting process, and the retaining piece 111 of the swinging piece 11 is engaged onto the engaging space formed by the two stop pieces 221 and 222 and cannot move inward further. At this time, by following the operation of the coupled structure 4 described above, the movable track 1 may be pushed in from the front opening of the intermediate track 2.

With reference to FIG. 7, when the intermediate is being pushed inward to move to the protruding block 51 of the fixed track 5, the forked connection notch 232 will be engaged with the protruding block 51 and cannot move inward further. Then, after the clasping piece 12 is moved to the engaging swing piece 23, the arc edge 123 of the front of the clasping piece 12 will touch the connection tenon 231 and in turn drive the forked connection notch 232 to swing to disengage from the engagement of the protruding block 51. The connection tenon 231 is subsequently guided into the slant slot 121 and then the movable track 1 and the intermediate track 2 together move to the rear of the fixed track 5.

Consequently, by putting the present invention into practice, an engaging structure is mounted between two tracks and thus the retaining piece on one end of the swing piece is engaged by the two stop pieces of the intermediate track to prevent the two tracks and the load carried from being damaged during the pulling out or pushing in of the movable track. Also, the movable track is further disposed with a coupled structure, which is pushed to render the swing piece to move laterally, such that the retaining piece swings ups and downs in a shape of a fan and in turn to engage and disengage with the two stop pieces of the intermediate track. Furthermore, the ball seat of the present invention can be engaged and retained by the seat stop piece of the intermediate track and be disengaged by the clasping piece of the movable track, such that when the movable track is being pushed into the intermediate track, the movable track can be adapted onto the ball seat. This novel design is indeed not seen before in the field of drawer track.

While the invention has been described with reference to the a preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that modifications or variations may be easily made without departing from the spirit of this invention, which is defined by the appended claims. 

1. An engaging structure for a drawer track, in which a ball seat adapted between a movable track and an intermediate track to render the movable track moving smoothly in the fixed track, wherein an appropriate position on the inner wall of the movable track is pivoted with a swinging piece whose two sides extends to form a retaining piece and a guide tenon, respectively; the side edges of the protruding portion on the front top end of the intermediate track extends to form a pair of front and rear stop pieces with slant faces, which are longitudinally resilient; a coupled structure includes a coupled piece slidably mounted on the front end to middle section of the bottom of the movable track and the coupled piece is fabricated to form a slant guide on its rear end to be adapted onto the guide tenon; such that when the movable track is being pulled from or being pushed into the intermediate track, the retaining piece will touch the slant face of one of the stop pieces, which is in turn being pressed downward to further push the swinging piece into the engaging space between the two stop pieces; alternatively, when an external force is pulling the coupled piece to drive the guide tenon to move the along slant guide and to render the retaining piece on the other end swinging so as to disengage from the engaged state.
 2. The device as defined claim 1, wherein the intermediate track is adapted onto a fixed track and a ball seat is disposed therebetween.
 3. The device as defined claim 1, wherein the coupled piece is fabricated to form a front and rear slide guides and is rivetedly connected onto the movable track.
 4. The device as defined claim 1, wherein the coupled structure having a protection cover riveted onto the inner face of the movable track and a compression-extension spring adapted onto the spring tenon of the protection cover through its one end and adapted onto the spring retainer of the coupled structure through the other end.
 5. The device as defined claim 1, wherein the bottom of the coupled piece is at least disposed with a retaining button.
 6. The device as defined claim 1, wherein the slant edges of the protruding portion are fabricated to form a front and rear stop pieces, respectively, and an retaining piece is connected onto the front end opening of the intermediate track and which extend their respective stop slots, which are resilient longitudinally, and between which is disposed with at least a groove as their separation.
 7. The device as defined claim 1, further include a retaining structure for the ball seat, comprising an intermediate track disposed with a protruding portion whose one side edge extends to form a pair of adjacent front stop and seat stop piece which have a slant face and which are longitudinally resilient; a ball seat whose front edge corresponding to the seat stop piece is fabricated to form a retaining slot; a movable track, which is disposed with a clasping piece at the appropriate position on its inner front end corresponding to the seat stop piece; such that when the ball seat moves to the opening of the front end of the intermediate track, the retaining slot is engaged with the seat stop piece to retain the ball seat; also, when the clasping piece of the movable track moves to press the front stop and causes the seat stop piece to sink simultaneously, the retaining slot is disengaged from the engagement with the retaining tenon and is released from the engagement.
 8. The device as defined claim 1, wherein the rear bottom of the protruding portion of the intermediate track is axially mounted with an retaining swing piece which extends to form a connecting tenon from the front and to form a forked connection notch from the rear; and the intermediate track is fabricated to form a corresponding tenon hole and retaining slot for the protrusion of the connecting tenon and accommodation of the forked connection notch; the top of the fixed track corresponding to the retaining slot is disposed with a protruding block at an appropriate position; the intermediate track is being pushed inward and as it is moved to the position of the protruding block, its forked connection notch is engaged with the protruding block and the intermediate track cannot be moved further; when the intermediate track is being pushed inward to move to the protruding block, the forked connection notch is engaged with the protruding block and the intermediate track cannot be moved further; when the slant slot of the clasping piece touches the connecting tenon which is then guided into track, the forked connection notch of the retaining swing piece swings to disengage from the engagement of the protruding block, and then both the movable track and the intermediate track move to the rear of the fixed track. 